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Sunday, August 29, 2010

And I should have been in church. Yes, this is a big deal to me. To be quite honest, my ankle has been bothering me for the past two days. I have not done anything to it, just went to bed, and woke up with this pain. I have heard that being in your forties is the worst time for when it comes to pain, because your body is use to not having this much pain. Once you hit your fifties, your body is use to it, and life goes on as usual. Well, I am 46 (last month was my birthday), it seems like the pain got worst. The doctors said that it was arthritis in left leg. I found out December 2008. Here is my question: why does a person learn how to do ballet, jazz, and tap, only to have arthritis years later? I thought that I would still be dancing, but I am not. I do it for me now (I never took it to the professional level). I had to stop in my twenties, because my parents wanted me to get a "real" job. Honestly, there is nothing like feeling invincible when you are balancing your whole body weight on your toes, and shoes made of fabric, wood, and cement, lol. Only those who took pointe class when they were young can relate. This this coming from a woman, who used to sprain her ankle quite a bit. That where Arthur comes in. It comes from the injuries, the pliés, the flap ball changes from tap, and the jazz runs from jazz dances. It finally comes from the all the hard work done from the recitals, hours of lessons, costume changes (I should show you a picture of me in an electric green tap outfit, can you say gross), and mom saying, "I have to pay what this time, LOL. Did I mention the cost of shoes?

I was watching So You Think You Can Dance a few weeks ago, before the finale, and for the first time this year, the dance industry is labeling dance as a sport. It is about time, because dancers can get the same type of injuries that a football, basketball, or soccer player can get. Go on You Tube, and you will find tons of videos clips of dance recitals, competitions, and even lessons on the subject.

Why am I mentioning this, and what does it have to do with scrapbooking? I saw a couple of layouts this at the Ohio State fair, and they did have a dance theme to them. If you have a little one in dance (big one, or even yourself), I am given you a theme challenge to scrapbooking this year's recital. I am sure that you, your spouse, parents or other relatives have taken a picture or two. Also just like schools, there is a dance picture to be taken. I remember those. Instead of sitting still, you pose. This was the closest thing to modeling I would ever get. If you did not take pictures this year, because your subject does not take dance, or too shy of the camera (I have a couple), dig up the pictures taken from yesteryear and scrapbook them. If you have a baseball or soccer player, now is the time to scrapbook them too. Musicians, you are not left out of this challenge. There are recitals in there too. I have been through that as well. Calling all cheerleaders. Get those pictures in the book too. The reason why I did not say football or basketball because I want you to save those for later, when winter sets in.

So now it is time for me to hobble over to my parent’s for Sunday dinner. My mom just called to ask if I wanted fried chicken or Chinese take-out. Since I had sushi last night, I voted for KFC. So we will be munching on that while my dad, Mike and a friend of his will be eating Chinese.

Oh, along the way I lost my train of thought which was, it is so amazing how God’s handiwork allows us to learn things like ballet, tap, and jazz, and to man to sculpt a shoe that allows a woman to balance on her toes. (Did you know that task was originally made for men to do that?). How about balance on a 4” beam that is 2 feet off the ground to flip in the air to win a gold metal like Shawn Johnson. I always wanted to do that. How about balancing on a tin piece of metal to carve an intricate line in a ring of ice to win a metal like Nancy Kerrigan. That is another sport I always wanted to take up. No, I could not imagine that we are that complicate, and God made it all for us to use to learn delight, and to entertain others. I am satisfied from what I learned since the age of 5, including being able to play a mean piano, organ, and keyboard. I am blessed by my talents, and I am happy.

No cards today, no layouts either. I am in dry dock, if you want to call it that. I did good with Ebay. Talk to you later, God Bless You.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

I have some items on E-willow. I have not abandon the Etsy site yet, but I felt that product was not moving, and I really need someone to purchase cards that have been there since January. I know that my first pictures were taken with a camera that I had not gotten into using, except for pointing and shooting, and not caring if the picture is out of focus or not. I found out some things about the camera, and the trick (if you want to call it that) is to stand far away, but not too far. A white focus area means that you are ready to take it, a red focus area means that the picture is not, and green focus area means it is a good picture.

Anyway, as for E-willow, I did the following:

Two of the items came from Etsy. I know, I know, I am not supposed to have the same item up on two sites. Bad move according to Etsy, but for one, I just deactivated it, and the other is for making custom scrapbooks, so it does not matter, because each scrapbook is going to be unique to the person in mind. So as I maintain and building both shops, I would love it if you or someone you know come visit my shops, which are listed on the right-handed side. I love referrals, and will be grateful if you do visit. Also visit My Shop at www.longaberger.com/patricialogan. There are so many things coming out for fall at Longaberger, and I want to share them with you. The holidays are coming up, and before that, the campaign for Horizon of Hope is still going on, and you have until October 31 to purchase those items. I do advise you to get them now, before the end of the month, because now you can go directly through my website for it, after August 31st, you will need to contact me through this blog, my Tricia's baskets and more blog, www.triciabsktsandmore@blogspot.com or email me at plogan@columbus.rr.com. For the Horizon of Hope products, for every purchase, $2 will go towards cancer research and one step to finding a cure for this type of disease.

5 reasons for doing what I do:

I know redundancy is not the best policy, but it helps to remind myself why I do the things I do.

Gift giving. The giving of gift is nothing new. People have been doing it for years, even centuries. The Wisemen gave gifts to Jesus as a baby, and those gift were of gold, frankincense, and Mir. Gift giving during that time, was often reserved for royalty, as a sign to welcome the new king, and a king yet to come. Since that time, you give gifts in celebration of a birthday, wedding, holidays, birth of a baby, and so forth. In terms of the products that I sell, that is what I want to think about in those terms; rather it is in the form of a card, candle, or a scrapbook of a loved one. What if you do not having any money? Well, the gift can be in the form of doing something for someone special: teaching someone how to read or a hobby you like doing, visiting someone who is shut in for any reason; taking someone to get their errands done, even if they know how to drive. I have still have my best example for that type of giving still living, that is my parents, especially my mother. For over thirty years, she has been Sunday School Superintendent and Christian Education Chairperson, and has done so, without asking for anything in return, except cooperation from the congregation. In return, she has gotten standing ovations, rewards, that she did not ask for, and the cooperation that she needed for God to help her get His congregation ready for what awaits us when Jesus returns. I have a feeling that when it is time for her to stand in front of God almighty Himself, she will not say, this is what I did, but what was accomplished while she was here. She has rubbed off on all of us. I work with the youth, and dad is a trustee. My brother, Leon was touch and go for a while, but he now lives in Dayton, and is about to become a dad for the second time, and will be get married soon. My oldest nephew, Mike, who is Leon’s son from a previous relationship is in the youth group, helps with the audio equipment, and is on the youth usher board. The jury is still out on my sister, Schaundra. She was on the Youth usher board, and a liturgical dancer, but now she is finding own way at the moment. So I pray that she does, and find her way back to church, not necessarily back to the church that she grew up in, but to a church family that she is comfortable with, and will steer her in the right direction. This is the type of gift giving my mother gave to us, and I am grateful for it.

I love the products.

OK, it is time for me to confess…I love doing what I do, because it relaxes me. It also goes back to the gift giving part. I shared with you in my last post on how to make a $1.00 card. That is how I started with cards, making a $1 card. It grew from that point, and they started getting fancier, but still simple. Even though I can make these types of cards, for myself, I prefer not to, because I want to simplistic of the cards to shine through. That is the different between a $1 card and $5 card, and some shops that mass produce the fancier ones (I am not naming names) prefer it that way, because it is more profit. I prefer to save it for the customer who wants it. I prefer to produce a really good card for that person’s budget than producing a half way decent fancy card and charging them a lot of money for something they simply cannot use. It is a waste of my time and theirs, but if that is what the customer wants, than I will tell them that it will take longer than the estimated time we originally agreed on. I actually made my first fancy card, three months ago. Before, it was a fold the card blank in half, put embellishments on, a little sentiment with a good inside quote that there you have it. Now I know how to do gate fold cards, double pocket cards, and a new one I made a sample of the other night, thanks to a Stampin! Up rep on You Tube. I can now make them on my Cricut Expression machine. I am loving it more and more. Next stop, beading (probably not for a while), LOL. I still love scrapbooking of course. I still love to sell Longaberger, because of the durability of the product, and you can organize and have it sit there to make it look pretty, but don’t. The products are functional, and for those who say it all the time, they are not country, and there are ways to make them inexpensive. They are also very green, because for every basket that is made a tree is replaced to grow, and you do not have to use those nasty plastic bags. I never use them, but I have a confession to make, I need to take my reusable bags more to the groceries, because they will automatically put them in the plastics, and I hate that.

Oh gosh did I say 5, I meant to say 2.

OK I am running a little at the mouth, but I do have a couple of things to show you:

Are these a beauty?

My new venture outside of cards. Bookmarks. I see them all the time and I wonder about them. I have these up for sale on E-willow, and I am proud of the way they turned out. I used The Storybook Cart on this. Yes, I know I have to save on electricity, but I did cut bunch of these out. I glued them to the paper clip with foam dots, but before I did that, I stamped the center with a retired Stampin! Up stamp set called Olive You. It is a love note done in Sepia. The heart is colored with a copic marker (R29-Lipstick Red). I started to put a little bling on it, but for the sake of it being too heavy on the paperclip, I reneged on it.

My next venture is actually an old one: Tags.

This is part of my altered collection. I have two sets on E-Willow both made the same way: Sponge ink like crazy on the store bought tags (sorry no Cricut this time), a splash of copic markers on it. Some feux stone on it, color on the feux stone, cardstock in bit and pieces glued on, and top it off with a pink initial in the corner. Super simple.

OK, before leaving, this is not about card store bashing. Seriously, when was the last time you went into the store, and found a greeting card that really spoke to you? This is how I got started making cards. The last time I bought a card, I stood there for a whole 30 minutes, and still did not find exactly what I wanted to say for a friend's birthday. I was also shopping for a Mother's day card. I got the cards, but I was highly disappointed, and the price did not help either. Mass produced greeting cards do exactly have their place, and they always will, as long as there is a person out there, who do not have the time nor the patience to make one at the last minute. I just chose to go the other direction. To be honest, card making is really easier than scrapbooking, because you do not have to match the colors in a photo, unless you use a photo in the card. Photo cards are all the rage, and I will explain them a little later.

To make a basic $1.00 card, you will need the following:

• 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper cut in half horizontally.

• Adhesive, otherwise called glue.

• Marker or a pen

• Some type of embellishment. If you are a scrapbooker already, whatever you use to decorate your scrapbook pages will do. If not, then going to the dollar store and grabbing some stickers will do nicely. If you have a store called Big Lots, then you can just go to the stationary section of the store, and they will be there.

With your cut piece of paper, fold it in half, set it to the side, or you can embellish it at this point. I always mat my card fronts first before I glue it to the card front. You do not this step. Place your embellishments on the card, and write a sentiment on the front. On the inside of the card, write a personal note or find a sentiment such as a quote or a poem to write, and sign your card. Do not forget the envelope. This is a good beginning project for kids. The embellishment can be one of their drawings. Have them draw on the front of the card, and if they cannot write or spell, you dictate what they want to put on the card.

Friday, August 13, 2010

I have added another element to this business-E-Willow. It works like Etsy in which I sell my goods. I have actually been with E-Willow since I joined Etsy, I just have not added anything to the store as of yet, but I am trying. Things have just gotten to the point where I am playing catch-up. I do however, need get this scheduling down so I can create more and add more to both my Etsy and E-Willow stores, as well as Ebay. This business industry is so tricky, and yet I feel I am getting the hang of it. I do have a banner for the it on the right side, so like my Etsy shop banner, if you click on it, you will be taken to the shop. Hopefully by the time you get there, I will have something up for you to purchase.

Well, that is it for the moment. Time for me to hop over to my other blog, Tricia’s Baskets and More. Talk to you soon, and I will have something for you to see. In the meanwhile, enjoy the rest of your evening, and God Bless you.

Monday, August 9, 2010

This is random thoughts day. I posted on my other blog, Tricia's baskets and more with a new twist: a newsletter. I had no idea that my National Sales Leader Marilyn was giving me a newsletter to send to my customers. Thanks, Marilyn.

I sold 4 retired Longaberger products on Ebay, and mailed out the last of them today. The postal clerk as so insightful. I did not have any tape, so I brought the box to the PO anyway, and purchased the tape there. There was a lady customer who was telling me all the insights on how to make mailing packages easier. She was telling me to buy the tape at the dollar store, and that first class mail was no cheaper in some cases than priority mail. I was getting a little annoyed with the advice, as well as the clerk, who corrected her twice. But you know what? God must have read my thoughts, and sent this woman in my path, because I WAS wondering how I can make mailing packages a little bit easier on myself. Did I needed to hear that tape was cheaper at the dollar store, and God noticed that I had bought tape at the post office once before? Of course He did, that is why He is God, and I am daughter. It is the same way when my own earthly father gives me advise, and I somehow find myself rolling my eyes (not in his direction so he can see me do it). It is not because he likes to hear himself talk, it is for my protection. So to that end, the next time I run out of tape, I will take God's advice and buy it at the dollar store, and unless first class is cheaper, I will continue to mail packages priority, especially small packages. You can never look at a person who you think is getting into your business, because your business is God’s business, and He is just looking out for you.

Scrapbooking:

I am starting to learn more and more about the business end of things. Do you realize that there is more to just making your items, and selling them. I think I mentioned that in another post, I cannot remember. For my learned lesson, I will take on pricing. I remember it all too well in my first year of earning my marketing degree. If you do not practice it enough, you will soon forget, and how many times in your life will you have to deal with the art of pricing a product? Not me. I assumed that I would be well on my way of being a a-lister actress or a Prima Ballerina by now. That’s what happens when the Fathers (both earthly and Heavenly) knock you down a few pegs. Anyway, I wanted to know if I could get the custom ordering part of my business up and running, so I posted a listing on my Etsy shop (www.etsy.com/shop/plogan721) and thought that was that. The listing is simple enough, the photos are of my past work, and it shows 6 layouts (they only allow you to show 6 photos) of how simple but yet sort of eclectic mix of what I can do. The description shows the process I will take the purchaser as they acquire their own personal album. I did point out to the viewing community that sample pages shown will not be their finished product, for it will be uniquely theirs. I also listed do’s and don’ts such as no original documents such as birth certificates and immigration papers, and that if they wanted them included, they must furnish a copy of the document. No flash drives, because they can get erased in the mail, and other things. Anyway, the starting price is $150, and I will adjust from there. I also started looking at other people’s sites, and finding out what their price points are, and so far, I found one person is charging $350 for her custom albums. That is $17.50 a page, and if the customer picked out their own papers and stuff to put in the album, she will negotiate from there. Some on Etsy are charging the same price as I am, so I know I doing the right thing on that note.

Alternative art is a trend that cannot be taken too lightly. For me, it was not at all. Until last Monday, I thought that the trend was too messy, left a lot of room for error, and so forth. I cannot say that I am changing to becoming an alternative person, but I am very proud of the envelopes that I altered last week. When I find them, I will let you know. In the meantime, I did some tags, and a card.

Just a note card-destressed

Well, that is it for now. I love learning new things, in all areas of my life, and I believe that is what God wants us to do, to learning and to teach others. You will never know whose life you have touched along the way on your journey to be more like Jesus every day.
God Bless you all and I will talk to you soon.

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